How Not To Take Care Of Your Tires

[Thomas]

Check my fronts least 4 times years,more so when using front loader a lot....easier than changing tire any day .

 

[repete]

If you make any turns instead of always going straight ahead wouldn't this make the tires (All 4 of them) be turning at different speeds?

Right now my tires in the front are new. If I measure to the center line of the wheel I have a diameter of 27" diameter. With that diameter my wheel has a circumference of about 84 inches. If I travel ten revolutions of the tire I cover 840".

Now lets "wear" an inch off the tread. This changes the diameter of the tire to 25". The wheel now travels 25 x 3.14152 inches or 78" per revolution. Ten rotations now covers 780".

The connection between the front axle and the back axle is "locked" when in 4wd. That being said, the drive shaft into the front axle must match the rotation of the rear axle. If both connections are rotating at the same speed then the engage/disengage is a easy task. Now imagine the front axle with the 1" or wear on the tires. The front wheels are now rotating faster to cover the original design (new tires) of 840". The rear tire size has not changed any appreciable amount (fronts wear out way faster than rears). This causes a mismatch of the rotation speeds where the front axle meshes with the rear axle thus a bind is felt when shifting.

You can travel in 4wd all the time but as the front tires wear the ratio becomes more of a mismatch. when locked in 4wd this "mismatch" of turning must be accounted for. Since gears can't "slip", the only place that the "slip" can occur is at the contact with the ground. With the rears being heavier than the fronts, the fronts are forced to make up the mismatch by sliding on the ground slightly, this sliding accelerates the wear of the front tires thus accelerating the change in the diameter.

I am sure we are both on the same page that this all comes down to is get your tractor out of 4WD unless you need 4WD and keep your tires inflated fully, especially as they get shorter. By all means get it out of 4WD when you have a heavy load in the bucket on a solid surface where the front tires cannot "slip" as would happen on gravel.

Hope this makes some sense John. I suspect we are on the same page just a different language.

Gregg

 

[Johnkn]

I just dropped off one front tire from my 10 month old BX25 at the Kubota dealer. I tried 2x to find a leak but couldn't, but was getting tired of finding it suddenly flat every 2 weeks. Dealer sure didn't offer to cover under warranty, but immediately said "we'll probably want to put a tube in it".

 

[ultrarunner]

That is why I went with slime 9 years ago for the BX fronts... so far... so good.

 

[CurlyDave]

I keep wondering if having a new tire on one side and an old tire on the other will cause unbalanced traction issues in 4 wd.

Probably not an issue on flat level ground, but if it causes a problem when you really need even traction -- steep slope, sidehill, etc. you could be in a world of hurt.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I keep wondering if having a new tire on one side and an old tire on the other will cause unbalanced traction issues in 4 wd.

Probably not an issue on flat level ground, but if it causes a problem when you really need even traction -- steep slope, sidehill, etc. you could be in a world of hurt.

You don't have one tire slip now sometimes where one is getting better or worse grip? I to do hillside and there is almost always a different level of grip between the two tires, especially for the one on the upper side of the hill vs the one on the lower side.
I know we've been over this a hundred or so times but 4wd on a Kubota does not mean all 4 wheels are always locked to turn thus the purpose for the differential lock lever. Even with the differential lock lever engaged, are all 4 wheels locked into the pull mode or just three? Let's see who will answer whether they really know or just think they know.

 

[meos1]

I check them every time. I can tell when I forget...They seem "out of round" and I remember.

 

[davesl708]

I slimmed the rear. The front are foam filled. Just had to add some air to the rear after two years.

 

[repete]

How an "open" differential works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYAw79386WI

How a limited slip differential works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYAw79386WI

Fronts and rears are usually "open" type but the differential lock is used to lock the rears together. On my IH584 the front dif is a limited slip so it acts differently than my L2550dt front end.

 

[lakeside]

I check the tires on my B26 every now and then but I should do it more often. I did use a tape maker and stuck the correct tire pressure on the fender, that way I don't have to fumble and bumble when it comes time to find the right pressure for each axle.